Martin V.

I contacted John Brown as I wanted a 'classic' Land Rover' for use on the airfield and to be used as a way to show off our logo when on the tarmac and was taken in by his helpful and fast response.

He told me that this car was owned and sold to them due to the sad passing of a member Land Rover Club of Great Britain and they were left it in the will and had renovated it and were now selling it to do another project.

I have no idea if any of this is true but it gave me confidence in the decision to buy for £13K plus extras that I wanted fitting.

John told me that it would be a great car and a great investment and it was impossible to lose money on it.

I should have been a bit smarter when he suggested that I pay them to add an electronic ignition, why would it need that if it had had such loving care.

The car was delivered on a trailer and it was clear from the first moment that it was not as described.

The ignition was an issue as was the distributor and they were not prepared to come and fix it but they did send a new one and I got a local garage to fix it, they did pay for this.

After that I decided to get it serviced even though it was supposed to have been fully serviced, I had done three miles at this point

It was clear that John Brown have a different view of "a service" versus a Land Rover dealer who presented me with an estimate of £6,000 plus to fix issues, I decided to use a more local garage and they sorted it for £2,000, which included bakes and an exhaust system.

16 months on and maybe 60 miles of driving on the airfield, so as I was not using it I exchanged chat messages with John Brown as on his site they say they are keen to buy cars like mine who asked me to send pictures

He then asked what I wanted for it as he "always wanted Land Rover 2's" and he remembered EYL!

I asked him to make an offer, and he said £7K

Quite a shock

But here is what makes him and his company a joke and liars

His rationale was that its all the fault of HMRC as they take 20% VAT and then corporation tax take 20% and he needs to make a profit so he needs to buy at 50% of retail

What a load of nonsense.

Any accountant knows that VAT is on the profit element and that corporation tax is on the performance of the company and not the sale price of the car.

Buyer beware, I was stupid from day one trusting him, but the nonsense he spouts when wanting to buy cars from you is so stupid that he has is either a moron, cheat, liar or a has lost his marbles.

I have documentary evidence of all of this and I do not hide my name so before selling to him, check any other source and if you do buy, then get an Independent pre-buy inspection.

Or, just avoid at all costs, I am not alone in this, just Google John Brown reviews and read about another customer that had to get a Barrister involved.

I have attached a screen shot of the car before I bought it that is still on his website now.

Avoid buying from John Brown Land Rover, and read as many reviews as you can of John Brown before buying a Classic Land Rover